Egyptian PantheonUnderworld
Duat
The Egyptian underworld through which Ra travels each night and the dead must journey, facing trials before Osiris's judgment.
About Duat
Night road of the sun
The Duat is the Egyptian underworld through which Ra's night barque sails, hour by hour, in the Amduat and Book of Gates. The dead need names, passwords, and offerings from the Book of the Dead. Osiris sits in judgment; Apophis waits to swallow the sun. It is mapped on tomb walls, not on a civic street. Geography is liturgical: caverns, gates, fire, water. There is no single novel of the Duat, only illustrated itineraries for kings and, later, officials.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Amduat, First Hour (New Kingdom royal tombs)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.
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